What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

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What the Internet is Doing to our Brains

Nicholas Carr

Prologue - Chapter Three
I'll put my additions in teal.

Opening Question- Do you think you are experiencing something similar to what Carr discussed- lack of focus, not reading books as much, etc.?


Video
I like the idea of using a video as a visual to help us understand the way neurons/synapses work.
I just thought that this would be really funny and to get them interested in the topic of the brain! Who else would be better to describe it than Pinky and the Brain?







NPR - Can Thoughts and Action Change Our Brain- about 35 minute segment...could we possibly have them listen to a part of it? Or, they could read the script.
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=7131130&m=7131133
How does neuroplasticity relate to what Carr discussed as- lack of focus, not reading books, as much, etc.?





Discussion Questions:
  • Page 13
    • "It was a machine that, in subtle but unmistakable ways, exerted an influence over you. The more I used it, the more it altered the way I worked. At first I had found it impossible to edit anything on-screen. I'd print out a document, mark it up with a pencil, and type the revisions back into the digital version."

  • Page 16
    • "The very way my brain worked seemed to be changing. It was then that I began worrying about my inability to pay attention to one thing for more than a couple of minutes....I was demanding to be fed the way the Net fed it- and the more it was fed, the hungrier it became."

  • Page 26
    • "Our neurons are always breaking old connections and forming new one, and brand-new nerve cells are always being created. Our brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions"

  • Page 28-
    • empiricists- The mind we are born with is a blank slate. What we know comes entirely through our experiences, through hat we learn as we live (nurture)
    • rationalists- We are born with built-in mental "templates" that determine how we perceive and make sense of the world. All our experiences are filtered through these inborn templates (nature)
    • "The Aplysia experiments revealed, as Kandel reports, 'That both views had merit--in fact they complimented each other.'" "Those genetically determined connections form Kant's innate templates, the basic architecture of the brain. But our experiences regulate the strength, or 'long-term effectiveness' of the connections, allowing, as Locke had argued, the ongoing reshaping of the mind and 'the expression of new patterns of behavior.' The opposing philosophies of the empiricist and the rationalist find their common ground in the synapse."

  • Page 31
    • "Neuroplasticity, argues Pascual-Leone, is one of the most import products of evolution, a trait that enable the nervous system 'to escape the restrictions of it own genome and thus adapt to environment pressures, physiologic changes, and experiences.'"
    • The brain is able to "adapt to local environmental demands throughout the lifetime of an individual, and sometimes within a period of days, by forming specialized structures to deal with those demands."

  • Page 32
    • When scientists trained primates and other animals to use simple tools, they've discovered just how profoundly the brain can be influenced by technology." "They found significant growth in the visual and motor areas involved in controlling the hands that held the tools...the rakes and pliers actually came to be incorporated into the brain maps of the animals' hands." How does this relate to us?

  • Page 33
    • Pascual-Leone experiment- "People who had only imagined playing the notes exhibited precisely the same changes in the brains as those who had actually pressed the keys."
    • "We become, neurologically, what we think."

  • Page 34
    • "Once we've wired new circuitry in our brain, Doidge writes, we long to keep it activated...routine activities are carried out even more quickly and efficiently, while unused circuits are pruned away." Based on technology, do we want all of our unused circuits to be pruned away? Why or why not? Explain.

  • Page 35
    • "Vital paths in our brains become, as Mnsieur Dumont understood, the paths of least resistance. They are the paths that most of us will take most of the time, and the farther we proceed down them, the more difficult it becomes to turn back.

  • Page 44- Could we make this into a tree map? Each group would create their own....or we could have them do it in a jigsaw fashion.
  • We just had more training on Thinking Maps this week--they're fun. I think having groups ponder these categories would be interesting. If we do a tree map, would we have each group complete a map on all 4 categories and then share and compare what they have? Mapping out our thoughts connects to the topic of "Tools of the Mind"--title for Ch. 3--see middle third of page 41, starting at "But what's even more impressive..." to the end of that paragraph. One part talks about the technology of the map giving man "a new and more comprehending mind."

  • "Every technology is an expression of human will. Through our tools, we seek to expand our power and control over our circumstances
    • Category 1- extends our physical strength, dexterity, or resilience
    • Category 2- extends the range o sensitivity of our senses
    • Category 3- enables us to reshape nature to better serve our needs or desires
    • Category 4- intellectual technologies- extend to support our mental powers

  • Page 46
    • Ralph Waldo Emerson "Things are in the saddle/ and ride mankind."
  • Pages 50-57
    • "Because language is, for human beings, the primary vessel of conscious thought, particularly higher forms of thought, the technologies that restructure language tend to exert the strongest influence over our intellectual lives." *I want to finish this, but I need a break, so check back later.

  • Page 8
    • Carr refers to "Karp, Friedman, and Davis--all well-educated men with a keen sense for writing," who admit, "the decline of their faculties for reading and concentrating." However, Carr says they all have said "the benefits they get from using the Net...make up for the loss of their ability to sit still and turn the pages of a book or a magazine." Friedman told Carr he has "never been more creative." Karp thinks that reading online "is a more efficient way to expand his mind than reading '250-page books'." Davis says, "The Internet may have made me a less patient reader, but I think that in many ways, it has made me smarter." (I just paraphrased and quoted parts, but we could have them read the paragraph from their if we want to use this in the discussion.) Question: Do you think that the benefits of the Internet make up for the loss of our ability to sustain focus?
  • Page 10
    • "We seem to have arrived, as McLuhan said we would, at an important juncture in our intellectual and cultural history, a moment of transition betwen two very different modes of thinking." From linear thinking, to wanting many bits of information, as quickly as possible.


Refereneces:

What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains- Nicholas Carr

Is Google Making Us Stupid.pdf
- Nicholas Carr

I also read this article online. It is basically Carr himself quoting and summarizing the first 3 chapters. I love the picture--maybe we could use that in our presentation--maybe at the beginning when we ask them to discuss if they are experiencing lack of focus, etc.

Neuroplasticity and Rehabilitation
http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.lndlibrary.org/pqdweb?index=0&did=963509241&SrchMode=2&sid=3&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1296160137&clientId=5166

I read this article, and I enjoyed it--it's really good. Goes right along with my book. Understanding the physical changes that can occur in the brain is a great start to really understanding how using technology is literally making a physical change in our brains and our thinking processes. I will scan the first chapter of the book for you--I made you a copy, but couldn't give it to you because of our cancelled class. This stuff is very, very interesting to me! Exploring it may make our presentation fun and interesting. I wonder if David will take a look at our ideas before Thursday and let us know what he thinks we should keep or change, etc.?